Monthly Archives: October 2012

There’s nothing wrong with a mouse cursor, but for many tasks keyboard shortcuts are far more efficient than picking your hands up off the keyboard and pointing then clicking. Most users can name at least a few combinations off the top of their heads, and almost everyone knows the infamous Ctrl+Alt+Delete, but many of the best shortcuts are tragically overlooked.

Jim Butz has extensive business experience working as part of Bell Labs, AT&T and Lucent Technologies. Currently he is a Venture Partner at California Capital Partners, a merchant banking platform. His decades of experience includes mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances, organizational development and operational improvement. He brings his vast experience to the local scene along with a fearless perspective of where we are and where we need to go.

Mehit: What is Cal Cap? What are you investing in?

Butz: California Capital Partners is a merchant banking platform. Most of the people who are involved with Cal Cap are pretty seasoned people and have been in equity investing for thirty, thirty-five years. Phil Smith, who is one of the managing directors in New York City actually put together Citibank’s first venture fund together forty years ago.

Martin Mansfield, of Pacific Ridge Capital, shutdown his business and joined Cal Cap. So now, we’re Series 7, FINRA compliant, he’s got Series 24 so he can manage ten other people doing deals. What we’ve mostly been focusing on recently is higher up the food chain with people who are looking for money from private equity sources.

We did sixteen investments since we started in 2006. We’ve done everything from pet pharmaceuticals to a beer company and everything in between.

We’re currently raising some money for some people to drill oil down in Texas. We also looking to put together a fund of funds to investigate intellectual property that’s held by large corporations.

Mehit: What qualities are you’re looking for?

Butz: A promising return, because you’re really still looking at it the way you look at any venture, which are large returns in a short period of time. Everybody still looks for a 5 – 10x return in three to five years even though the average hold time on a venture backed company was at 9.6 years.

Goal: Prohibit the punishment of students who decline new microchip photo IDs.

In San Antonio, Texas, schools have employed new tactics to fight the state’s abysmal truancy levels. Both John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School have instated the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips by imbedding the small devices in student ID cards, enabling officials to track every pupil’s location. Although educators insist the new technology is necessary to stem widespread truancy, many students and parents believe the new requirement invades personal freedoms. Many have chosen to opt-out of the new IDs. According to the new guidelines, students are allowed to continue using their old photo IDs, but recently teachers and officials have begun to target those students who decline the new protocol, finding ways to punish them for their refusal. Students have the right to protect their personal liberties, and should not be subjugated to recriminations and reprisals due to their beliefs.

Many people find it hard to focus, but it is a skill you can develop. Try these suggestions for improving your focus:

Screen out distractions. Start by turning off the TV, putting down your phone and logging out of email. Not convinced it’ll help? Try this experiment: Eliminate noncritical screen time for two days and see how much more you get done.

Buying a new car can be a confusing, frustrating and downright unpleasant experience. But behind the haggling and the anxiety and the dramatic theater of the salesman going to talk to the manager, how does this process really work? One anonymous car salesman lifted the veil and gave us a taste of what it’s like on the showroom floor. And most importantly, our informant lets us know how we can get the best deals the next time we’re shopping for a new car.

Cervical cancer is the 5th most common cancer in women worldwide with approximately 471,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Approximately every 2 minutes a woman dies of cervical cancer. 80% of the cases occur in low-income or middle-income countries.

Ronco Johnson knows financial planning. But when it comes to planning how to reach a critical set of potential customers, he mostly knows that he needs a new plan. That group is the Millennial Generation. Also known as Generation Y, this 80-million-strong legion of Americans born between 1982 and 2000 already exceeds the baby boomers in size and influence — and someday will rival them in affluence. Its a market no small business can afford to ignore.

Johnson, president and chief executive officer of L.R. Johnson & Associates, an insurance and financial services provider in Marietta, Ga., realized awhile back that his marketing tools and strategies would need an overhaul if he was going to have any hope of successfully reaching this huge market. “There is a big difference marketing financial services to Millennials,” he said.

For one thing, the pace of interactions is sped up until it resembles a cartoon chase. “They want their information now,” Johnson said. A series of 2-hour meetings in his office to discuss financial planning needs — de rigueur with older clients — is a nonstarter with Millennials.

Hocky is not your average seating collection – it’s ridiculously smart. Designed by Marcin Wielgosz of Merely, Hocky is made of various sized segments of sofas and chairs with integrated tables that you can pick and choose to form the configuration you want.